Men’s Basketball Advances To Quarterfinals of NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament With 92-78 Win Over Wayne State

Wednesday, February 22

7 p.m.

St. Cloud State

19-13

Wayne State College

10-19

Wayne State College

St. Cloud St.

Jon Averkamp had 19 points against Wayne State

Men’s Basketball Advances To Quarterfinals of NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament With 92-78 Win Over Wayne State

2/22/2017 10:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ST. CLOUD, Minn. –The St. Cloud State men's basketball team (19-13) put together a 57-point second half to come-from-behind and earn a 92-78 victory over Wayne State College (10-19) in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at Halenbeck Hall.

The team was led to victory by senior Mark Hall and junior Jon Averkamp. Hall scored 10 of his 19 points in the second half. He also had four rebounds and five assists. Averkamp tallied 19 points along with four rebounds and three assists. Senior Scottie Stone closed out his home career with 18 points, six rebounds and three assists. Redshirt sophomore Gage Davis picked up 14 points, eight rebounds and five helpers. Junior Andy Foley recorded 12 points, tied his career-high with 11 rebounds and had six assists. Sophomore Brindley Theisen had all 10 of the team's points off the bench.

WSC's Kendall Jacks scored 31 points for the Wildcats to lead three in double figures for them. Matt Thomas chipped in with 17 points and Austin Esters picked up 10

Both teams shot well from the field with the Huskies holding a slight 51.7 (31-for-60) to 50.8 percent (31-for-61) edge. The Wildcats hit both more and a higher percentage of threes in the contest at 44.4 percent (8-for-18) compared to 33.3 percent for SCSU (7-for-21). St. Cloud State did damage at the free throw line in going 23-for-25 (92 percent) with WSC checking in at 8-for-12 (66.7 percent). The game featured only two tied scores as it was a tale of two halves. The Wildcats won the first half, 40-35, while SCSU took the second half, 57-38.

The Huskies were trailing by 12 with just under a minute and half to go in the first half, 40-28, when the team went on a 7-0 spurt with Davis knocking down a jumper, a made three from Stone and then two made free throws from Stone to close the gap to just five and get some momentum back. It was a slow start to the second half with SCSU looking at a nine-point deficit, 50-41, four minutes into the last 20 minutes of game time. The Huskies then went on a 14-5 run to tie the game up at 55 on Stone's made three. After a defensive stop, SCSU got a jumper from Stone to take the lead. The SCSU lead yo-yoed between one and seven points over the next five minutes until a Hall three put St. Cloud State up eight, 75-67. The lead was extended to 14 on the second of two made free throws from Davis, 81-67, with three minutes remaining in the game. A 10-6 run finished off on an Averkamp dunk put the lead out to its largest margin of 17, 91-74, with just over a minute remaining the game. The team settled for the 14-point victory, 92-78.

St. Cloud State advances to the quarterfinals of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament and will play at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 26, against Upper Iowa (20-9) at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Notes
- This is the first time in either of their careers that Mark Hall and Jon Averkamp have led the team in scoring with each scoring 19 tonight.
- Averkamp has scored in double figures in nine of his last 11 games and 20 total times this season.
- Hall has now scored in double figures in three straight games and in four of his last seven games.
- Andy Foley's double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds against Wayne State was his second consecutive double-double after recording his first-ever last time out against Northern State (18 points and 11 rebounds).
- Foley is the third member of the team to record multiple double-doubles this season as Gage Davis has 13 and Kurt Hall has two.
- Gage Davis scored in double figures with 14 points for the 31th time in 32 games this season.
- He has 58 double figure games in 61 career contests.
- Davis is now only 11 points from tying Kevin Catron's school record of 744 points in a single season.
- Scottie Stone, with 18 points against WSC, has reached double figures in 30 of the team's 32 games this season.
- Brindley Theisen scored in double figures for the second time this season and the eighth time in his career.
- It was his first double digit performance since Bemidji State (1/6/17) when he had 11 points.
- The team defeated Wayne State College for the 15th straight game.
- The program advances to the quarterfinals of the NSIC Tournament for the first time since 2014-15 when the program defeated Southwest Minnesota State.